Manasara Movie Review

Behind the Movie Manasara: The only factors which attracted movie lovers towards this ‘Manasara’ project are the name of Ravi Babu and the innovative trailers which sent vibrations in theatres. Known for his creative thinking and modern approach of story telling, Ravi Babu dealt all kinds of subjects and again this time he concentrated on soft love of a cute pair. Let us see how wholehearted was this ‘Manasara’ attempt?

In the Movie Manasara: Vikram (Vikram) is a degree pass out with innocent and timid attitude towards life. His father (Krishna Mohan) is a bank manager who gets transferred to Rajappalayam in Kerala, a place where modern thinking and technology have no place. This is a traditional village where every small issue is solved by their customary Kalari Peetadhipathis based on the competition between opponent parties in ‘Kalari Payattu,’ the traditional martial art of Kerala. 

Vikram’s family become tenants in the house of Krishnan Kutti (Bhanuchander) and as soon as Vikram enters into the village, falls in love with Anjali (Sree Divya). Here is the point as Anjali has her own flashback where in she is ill treated daily in the hands of her step mother, father Veera Bhadra (Rama Raju) and brother-in-law Rajan Pillai (George Vincent), a champion in Kalari Payattu.

Obviously Vikram and Anjali fall in love and cruel Rajan Pillai becomes a hurdle. Time when this cowardly Vikram and his family is thrown away from village for loving their local girl, Krishnan Kutti explains his flash back love failure and instills courage in Vikram to win his love. Now, Peetadhipathis decide to conduct the Kalari fighting competition between Vikram and Rajan Pillai to choose the right partner for Anjali. How is Anjali connected to Krishnan Kutti, did Vikram win the Kalari fight competition for his love, what happened to Rajan Pillai and Anjali’s step mother form the final episodes.

Values of the Movie Manasara: Ravi Babu carried on his legacy of difference in story telling by selecting the Kerala and Kalari backdrop. Story wise, we might find this as a regular love story with mix of Jayam, Jai, Thammudu and other Hollywood Kick Boxing flicks yet Ravi Babu’s clever technique of dealing in his own style makes all the difference. Dialogues by Paruchuri Brothers were also a neat mix of their regular style with Ravi Babu. Script by Satyanand looked quite good in first half and became weak in second half with no engrossing movements. Life of this entire movie is packed in two departments and they are Cinematography of Sudhakar Reddy and Music from Sekhar Chandra. Both of them raised the feel of movie to a new level with their top class work. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh was smooth in first half and sluggish in second half. Art Work department has also done good work. Production values of Moving Images and Prakash Babu were quite trendy and apt to this kind of story.

Performance wise Vikram is not that handsome and not a conventional hero material but he suited well to the character of Vikram. Especially his dialogue delivery helped the character to establish an image. Heroine Sri Divya looks cute and sweet with strong features which suited to her character of next door girl. Coming from TV background, Sri Divya was a cool fit in the movie. Veteran Bhanuchander has got a lengthy role to excel both performance and martial arts wise. George Vincent with wild instincts fared well as best villain and he sure can be looked forward in near future. Others Rama Raju, Annapurna find prominent roles and comedy part was successful with Krishna Mohan and Usha Sri. 

Out of the Movie Manasara: Drawing inspiration from Hollywood flicks is not new for industry and Ravi Babu is already an expert in it. The way he added the Kerala nativity and Kalari flavor to a regular love story is impressive. The major credits for offering a new feel for this entire movie goes to Cinematography and Music departments. First half has good entertaining stuff and two beautiful songs (Parava Ledu… and Nuvvila…) made youth to go in loud whistles for lyrical excellence, sweet compositions and brilliant presentation on the screen where we see Ravi Babu making a cameo appearance. Love episodes between the lead pair in first half were wonderfully picturized. Hope that Sri Divya’s career doesn’t end up as other girls whom Ravi Babu introduced. Second half has nothing enthusiastic movements except the professional ballad style used in narration of Bhanuchander’s flash back and a regular climax culminating in Kalari. Best point of movie is that Kerala backdrop and heroine Sri Divya’s strong and sweet features which will haunt you even after leaving the theatre.

Cinejosh Verdict of the Movie Manasara: A clean attempt from Ravi Babu with new backdrop for a simple and known love story.

                                                                        Reviewed by Srivaas